(Central Station) Shoppers shame Chanel over advent calendar rip-off

There's not much in a name, especially when it comes to a supposedly unique, high-end product, and posh-smells company Chanel knows all about it, as buyers kick up a stink saying their flipbooks and keyrings are definitely nothing to write home about as gifts in a HK$6,250 limited-edition advent calendar. 

Consumers went online to say they had been looking forward to cosmetics, perfumes, and practical goodies in the "luxury set" that came in a gigantic plastic container resembling a bottle of the brand's signature No 5 fragrance. But they felt cheated when they found stickers, bookmarks, and an empty dust bag, with very few cosmetic products.    

Elise Harmon, a KOL from the US who filmed herself unboxing the calendar on TikTok, was certainly not pleased as she criticized it, calling it a joke, and saying that she'd "had enough." The video has garnered over 14.5 million views.    

YouTuber, "A Heated Mess" called the calendar "an overpriced sticker book," while a local YouTuber Happy Monica labeled it as a "stationery set" in a video with over 900,000 views.    

The French brand issued a statement on Monday to apologize for disappointing customers but said the "value of the set should not be only determined by the products inside" as it claimed they were "real collectibles."